


Before You Go

by kitkat9g



Category: The Walking Dead, bethyl - Fandom
Genre: Multi, bethyl, the walking dead - Freeform, tv
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-23
Updated: 2015-06-23
Packaged: 2018-04-05 20:27:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 11,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4193751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkat9g/pseuds/kitkat9g
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Slaughter Mountain. Ironic right? But it was supposed to become our home for a  long as we lived. I didn't want to get my hopes up for a permanent place because look how much good we got out of the prison. Daddy was dead and we were split up an  on the run. . . again. The only thing that kept me going was Daryl. I knew he'd take care of me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Beth:

"Hey" I woke to Maggie's face, literally inches from mine, making me almost jump straight out of my skin. "Woah! Wha-""Shhh...we need to be quiet. No one else is up yet." Maggie took her hand away from my mouth. I squinted into the blinding sunlight Maggie had let in by opening the curtain to my cell. "Then why are we?" "Because, I want you to see something. Get dressed and meet me by the front gate." With that, she left, not even closing my curtain. "Ugh!" I groggily dragged myself to my feet and shuffled over to the curtain, snapping it shut. I didn't really care who heard me. If I had to be up, why didn't they?

Daryl:

By the time I heard the cellblock door open, I'd been up for hours. So I sat up in bed, pulled on my vest, and headed for the door.

When I saw Beth leaving toward the gate, I sped up to catch her. "Hey" I guess I scared her a bit cuz she skidded to a stop dead in her tracks. "Hey yourself. You scared the crap outta me!" She laughed. I always did love her laugh. All high-pitched and choppy. And if ya got her laughing hard enough she'd even snort a little sometimes. I smiled to myself as I thought of how special she was.

"Watcha thinkin' bout?" I could feel the blood rushing to my face when she caught me grinnin' to myself. "Ah, nothin'" I turned away a little and hid my face. "Why don't I believe you?" There she went laughing again...god I loved her. I didn't think I could stand just watching her from far off much longer. "Well? I guess you don't have an answer to that do you?" And right then she snapped me out of my daydream and back to real life. I decided to take my chances.

Beth:

"Beth" Right as I turned around to meet his gaze, Daryl grabbed my shoulders and kissed me. I was so shocked that I froze in place for a second. When I finally realized what was happening, I was beyond happy. I'd been noticing him watching me lately. I knew he had eyes for me. I was always hoping he'd come forward and finally tell me how he felt. I kissed him back, knowing that this kiss meant the moment I'd been waiting for was finally here. When Daryl finally pulled back, I was grinning ear to ear. When Daryl looked up from my lips and saw my smile, I watched as he pulled his mouth into a small grin.

"I love you too, Daryl" His smile widened. "Good" He leaned back in and kissed me again, this time softer and sweeter. That's when I realized that we were still standing right in front of the gate. . . and Maggie.

Daryl:

"Oooooh! Would you look at that! Hey lovebirds, you guys wanna help me pull this gate open?" I pulled away quickly and tried to hide the redness in my face. "Uh. . . ya let's go."

We opened up the gate and Maggie took us over to the outside of the fence where the herd of walkers almost pushed the fence over. Since then they'd moved over a ways and left that section alone.

"Here we are. Look at that!" I followed Maggie's arm and gaze to the pile of dead (again) walkers on the ground. "What exactly are we lookin' at?" Maggie looked at me like I was dumb and blind. "Daryl, do you seriously not see it?" She bent down and picked something up off the ground. When she held it up, she had a half-eaten mouse by the tail between her fingers. Beth took one look and spun around to puke. I grabbed her hair and held it out of her face until she was finished. "Thanks, Daryl" I nodded. "Anytime. You okay?" I held my rag out to her. She took it and wiped at her face and mouth. "Yeah. Thanks. That's just nasty."

Maggie:

"I know. Somebody's been feeding them." Beth made a face at that and looked back at me. "Really? Who do you think would do that?" I looked at Daryl. "I'm not sure. Any ideas?" I could see the wheels go in his head, then stop. "Lizzie. Carol said something about her cutting up a rabbit and naming the walkers. She don't know that they ain't people anymore. She thinks they're just 'different'." I nodded. I thought I heard something like that too.

"You're probably right. I'm gonna go talk to Carol about her." I started back towards the gate, and turned around. "And since when did you two start. . . you know. . ." I looked right at Beth. "About ten minutes ago, actually." She giggled nervously. "Okay. Well I'll leave you two to that."

Beth:

And she was off. She didn't seem to really be too bothered by me and Daryl kissing, which surprised me a little. She actually seemed kind of excited.

Daryl:

I glanced over at Beth to see what she was thinkin'. She was shaking like one a' them little purse dogs. "Hey, you alright?" "Yeah. Carol will take care of Lizzie. It's just really cold out here." I turned toward her and wrapped my arm around her shoulder. "Then let's head back inside." I smilled at her and she returned it and nodded. I walked her back inside with my arm around her. I didn't feel like ever letting go.


	2. Chapter 2

Beth:

"What?! Since when? Do you have any idea how old he is?" Daddy wasn't happy. "It doesn't matter Daddy. I love him! Don't you know how that feels? What about mom?" Daddy looked down towards his feet, understanding now what I meant. Daryl sat silently by my side, obviously nervous. "Yes Beth. I know exactly what love feels like, and I also know what losing it feels like. I just don't want you to have to feel that if. . ." I knew what he was implying. "Daddy, the world we live in now gives us no guarantees. But all we can do is live in the moment, and this is our moment. We can't just live in fear every moment, this life is about taking chances. We need to take ours. Maggie and Glenn are taking theirs, Lori died taking her chances. Please just support us. . ." Daddy looked up at me, his expression tired and sad. "I understand, Bethy. I just want you to be happy with whatever decisions you make." I smiled at him. "This is my decision, Daddy. And I'm very happy." His expression changed to a tired smile. "Welcome to the Greene family, Daryl." Daryl grinned widely and hugged me tightly. "Thank you, sir." "You can still call me Herschel, Daryl. Or Daddy, if you prefer." We all laughed. I jumped up and wrapped my arms around Daddy's neck. "Thank you, Daddy. I love you." He patted my back and said: "I love you too, Bethy."

Daryl:

When Herschel accepted Beth's and my relationship, I couldn't believe it. I was crazy happy, and so in love. "Have you told the rest of the group?" Herschel was smiling a bit more now. "Nah. Maggie knows and you know. That's all." Herschel looked surprised. "Maggie knows?" Beth spoke up before I could answer. "Maggie saw us. . . um. . . kissing outside." Beth and I turned bright red and Herschel laughed. "Forget yourselves did you?" Beth giggled next to me. Her movement tugged me back to reality. "Ya. Guess we did." I looked down at my hands. Beth slid her hand into mine, feeling my nervousness. She leaned real close to my ear. "It's okay. Daddy's really laid back. You can relax." I breathed out a little at this, but didn't do much more. "Well I guess we better let the rest of the group know, so it's not so much of a shock if they see you two together. We don't need any heart attacks around here. I nearly had one when you told me." He laughed. Beth broke in. "Could you do it, Daddy? You're a lot better with words." Herschel nodded and stood up, jerking his head for us to follow him out to call a meeting.

Beth:

One collective gasp. That's all there was. I held my breath. . . and Daryl's hand, while we waited for more reaction. All of a sudden, to my surprise, the group started to cheer and almost everyone was all smiles. . . except for Carol.

Carol:

When I heard about Beth and Daryl, I was heartbroken. I ran off toward my cell, trying not to cry in front of everyone. When I got there, I dropped onto the bed and bawled my eyes out. I wasn't ready to let the idea of Daryl moving on sink into my head.

Daryl:

I saw Carol run off when Herschel told them Beth and me were together. I should have felt bad about hurting her, but I felt worse that I didn't feel bad for her. I couldn't bring myself to feel like a bad person. But I was happy for me n' Beth. I looked over at her, grinning about as wide as I'd ever seen her. I nudged her with my elbow and she turned and hugged me around the shoulders, pulling me downward and pressing her soft lips to mine.


	3. Chapter 3

Hershel:

I was happy for Bethy. Because she had found happiness, and I knew she was safe with Daryl. And that's all I ever wanted for her, like any father would. Daryl was the kind of man that would do anything and everything to keep his people safe. But I was still beginning to get an uneasy feeling about staying so long at the prison. It had become our home, a safe place for us to live. Well, as safe as anywhere could be. I didn't know if I was the only one who felt this way, and I wasn't about to just wait around for something to happen that confirmed my fears.

I walked out to Cell Block A and sent a person to each block to round everybody up. When everybody got back to A, they were all in a fuss over the subject of the meeting. "Hey" The ruckus continued. "HEY" Still it went on. Everyone jumped when a gunshot went off. All heads flung to the left to see Beth standing at the top of the stairs, gun still raised. She pointed to me and eyes uneasily came back to me. "Somethin's coming. I can feel it. We might not be as safe here as we thought. It's just a hunch. How many of you have ever felt like you were being watched?" Almost every hand shot up. "And how many of you were actually being watched?" About a third of those hands went down. "Lately I've been feeling that way. Like someone's watching us. Scouting out the prison."

When I ended the meeting, it left people talking. On guard. Watching for anything unusual. That was good. We needed all eyes out.

Daryl:

Beth and I were on our way back to Block B. "What'd you think Daddy was talkin' about? Somebody watching us." Beth looked at me, worry in her eyes. I just shook my head. "Don't know." "Well Daddy's usually right, and I'm glad he knows what he's doing for most things, but..." She looked down at her feet. "But what?" She stopped. I took a step back to meet her, and she looked back up at me. "But this time. . . I just hope he's wrong." I stepped closer to her and put my hands on her shoulders. "Me too. . . but we'll be fine either way. I won't ever let anything happen to you. I promise." She smiled a little for just a second, then it was gone again.

Beth:

I knew Daryl would take care of me no matter what. I trusted him with my life, and I always would. He squeezed my shoulders lightly and we started walking again. We walked the rest of the way in silence.

Carol:

When I heard the door open and saw them come in, I left for my cell. I couldn't stand seeing them together. . .

Beth:

I watched Carol walk away when she saw us come in. I didn't really know what was wrong. Why was she so upset? I could feel Daryl's eyes on me and I looked away from her and down to the floor. Daryl grabbed my hand and led me up to his cell. When we got there, he sat down on the bed and pulled me into his lap. "Listen, Carol and I used to. . . almost have something together. But it never really worked out. I think that's what she's upset about. She's probably just a little jealous that I love you but not her." I nodded. I didn't want Carol to be upset with me, I didn't know about her and Daryl's past. It was almost like Daryl was reading my mind. "It'll be okay. She'll get over it. Don't think on it too much." He kissed my cheek. I turned to look at him and he pressed his lips to mine. When he pulled away he looked me in the eyes. "You okay?" I was quiet for a minute and Daryl looked at me, concerned. I took a deep breath for him and smiled. "Yeah. I'm okay."

Daryl:

I knew how Carol could be. She'd get over it soon enough. But I wasn't gonna let her upset Beth, she already started to and it was killing me. I laid back on the bed and Beth did too. It was startin' ta get late. Pretty soon Beth was out, and I didn't wanna wake her up. A breeze blew through a crack in the wall and Beth turned over to snuggle up close to my side. I wrapped my arm around her and closed my eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beth:

When I woke up, Daryl wasn't there. I opened the curtain to go downstairs and ran right into Carol. "Oh! Sorry." I gave her a little smile. She shot me a dirty look, rolled her eyes, and walked away. I suddenly felt terrible. But I kept heading downstairs anyway. I saw Glenn sitting on the stairs and sat down next to him. "You seen Daryl?" He nodded. "Left to go hunting about two hours ago." I wondered why he didn't wake me up. "Okay. So how are you and Maggie doing?" Glenn looked at me and smiled. "Pretty good. . . So. . . I saw how Carol looked at you at the top of the stairs. Is she okay?" I looked down. I felt really bad for upsetting her, but maybe Glenn could help me. "She's upset because Daryl and I are together. Did they have a . . . a past?" Glenn thought for a moment. "Yeah, but not really anything serious. Just a little flirting from what I saw, but maybe she thought it was gonna turn into more." I thought about this. I'd be pretty hurt too if somebody was flirting with me but ended up with someone else. "How long ago?" "I don't know, two years maybe. It's been awhile. But I guess she held out hope still." "Yeah I guess you're ri-"

We were interrupted by a deafening crash as a hole was blown through the wall. "Daddy was right! Somebody's after us!" I ran for Rick's cell to get Judith. He handed her off then grabbed a gun and told me to stay behind something at all times. I pulled my handgun out of my pocket and ran outside. As I came outside, it was eerily quiet after the blast. I saw a tank surrounded by a bunch of cars and people on the other side of the outer fence. I darted for the inner fence and the others, just as a man with an eyepatch pulled Michonne and. . . Daddy. . . out of one of the cars. Their hands were tied behind them and he knelt them on the ground.

"You don't have to do this!" Rick shouted as the man pulled Michonne's katana from its sheath and placed it to Daddy's neck. My head was screaming and my stomach dropped. I struggled to swallow the lump that was rising in my throat. I could see Daddy nodding and smiling at Rick as he tried to negotiate with the man. My heart slowed a tiny bit when the man lowered the katana, but it shot right back into a rapid pace and adrenaline pumped when he mouthed one word: liar, and swung the katana right into Daddy's neck. Maggie and I were screaming and crying and holding onto each other and I gripped Judith tightly. But Daddy's expression didn't change as he fell to the ground, partially decapitated and suffering. When Rick screamed "NO" and fired at the man, all hell broke loose.

I bolted for the partial wall by the stairs and crouched down, Judith in one arm, gun in the other, as the tank took down the fences and came into the yard. Where was Daryl? We needed him. . . bad.

All of the walkers from the fence were pouring in and so were the assholes letting them in. Just then a walker rounded the corner and grabbed at Judith. I put a bullet in its head and ran for the back fence, away from everything. I had to keep Judith safe. The bus was in back, and They'd be pulling out soon. I was going to put Judith on the bus and run back out front to fight. That bastard killed my daddy and I wasn't about to just run from that. So I put Judith on the bus with Karen and ran back outside. I had to get a bigger gun if I was gonna make a difference here.

Carol:

I was headed for the bus when I saw Beth coming my way. My anger had been on the rise since I heard about her with Daryl, but it finally boiled over when I saw her this time. I snapped. "You!" I was seething. "Carol! What's happening?!?!" I just looked at her, feeling my face turning red. "It doesn't matter! Either way I'm gonna make sure you don't get away from it!" She looked at me, fear filling her whole expression. I loved every minute of it. I lunged at her with my knife and knocked her to the ground. She was stronger than I expected, but I managed to get the knife into her hip. She screamed bloody murder as I twisted it around. I wanted her to suffer. No one would know what happened to her with everything going on. For all they would know, she would have been killed by one of the people attacking us. She squirmed under me and I twisted the knife one more time before I let go and started wailing on her face. Her nose was bleeding and I had split her lip wide open when I heard the voice.

Daryl:

"CAROL!!!" I jumped over the fence and ran at her, but while she was distracted a walker grabbed her and took and mouthful out of her neck. I put it down and ran to Beth. "Oh my god. . . Beth. . . I'm so sorry." She was barely conscious and she was bleeding like crazy. I had to get her out of there. I picked her up and ran for the fence. She wimpered as the knife moved in her hip. I used mine to cut a huge hole in the fence so we could get through.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I ran all night and into the morning with Beth in my arms, until I found a house. There were lights on. I knew full well that you couldn't really trust anyone, but I turned and looked at the trail of blood we were leaving behind us. I had to try it or Beth was gonna bleed out.

I beat on the door for a good five minutes. "Help! Please! Hey! She's dying! Please! She's bleeding out! A muffled voice came through the door. "Is she bit?" I looked her over. Just Carol had gotten bit. "No. Please help her!" The door opened. A man stood at the door and waved us in. He saw the huge hole in Beth's hip and her bloody face. "Bring her in. Quick."

I carried her in and he cleared a dining table in the middle of the room. I set her down and the man got to work. "What's your name son?" I was goin' nuts worrying about Beth and I almost didn't hear him. "Um...Daryl. And Beth" I put my hand lightly on her ankle. The man nodded. "Morgan."


	4. Chapter 4

Beth:

My vision was blurry and I had the worst pain all the way down my left leg. All of a sudden I felt a searing, stinging pain in my hip. I tried to scream but nothing came out. There was a hand wrapped around mine. I could tell it was Daryl's. I recognized the feeling of his calloused hands, and I calmed down a little bit. But I heard another person in the room. We weren't at the prison anymore. Where were the others? My heart was racing as something stung my hip over and over again. I focused on Daryl's voice as he talked to me, and everything went black.

Daryl:

"Beth? BETH? Morgan what's wrong with her? Help her!" I was getting more and more nervous by the second. I was losing her. I cursed Carol under my breath, hoping she had turned and no one would ever put her down. "I'm doing the best I can. I'm not a doctor, but I'm trying. She's been hit in the face umpteen times, she blacking out. She probably has a concussion. Try to wake her up and keep her awake." I started talking to her and she came back to me. "Beth. . . Beth it's gonna be okay. I promise. I'm sorry I wasn't there in time to keep her from hurting you. This is my fault. Please stay with me. . . Please." I put my head down on our hands on the table next to her. I kissed her hand and she squeezed a little. "Beth?" She moved her eyes toward me. A lump started to rise in my throat. I swallowed, hard. "Hey" I smiled at her as best I could. "Hey" she squeaked out. She smiled back weakly, then gasped as Morgan pulled the needle through her hip for the last time and tied the thread off. "All done with your leg, hun. On to you lip." Morgan moved to her mouth. She didn't even flinch this time. It was nothin' next to the stitches in her hip. "You're doin' great, Beth. He's almost done." When Morgan finished stitchin' her up he wrapped clean gauze around her thigh and up her waist. "All done. Help me move her to the bed."

Beth:

I woke up the next day to Daryl sitting in a chair by the bed, his head his crossed arms, his hand wrapped around mine. I tried to sit up and he must have heard me, because he opened his eyes and sat up. "Hey, slow down there." I laid back down. "God this hurts!" I winced as the sheets rubbed against my leg. "What happened anyway?" Daryl looked at me, astonished. "You don't remember?" I shook my head. Ouch. Whatever it was got me good. "It was Carol. She dug a knife into your hip and punched you in the face until you bled. Theres a huge hole in your leg and your lips busted open. Your nose is probably broken and you probably have a concussion." I lifted the sheets and looked down at my hip. The bandages had already started to bleed through. "Wow. What happened to her?" Daryl looked tired, and sad. . . just. . . sad. He'd had a pretty shitty day, hadn't we all though? "Walker got her. Thank God she's gone. I hope no one ever puts her down so she can walk the earth forever and rot down to nothing." A pain shot through me at the thought of Carol walking around, dead, forever, eating the living. "Daryl, no. I don't care what she did. No one deserves that. We shouldn't wish anything like that on anyone. It doesn't matter who they are." "Beth, she tried to kill you." I just looked at him. "I don't care. We're all living in this world, and we need each other to survive. Even when those people turn bad, we can't just hope something worse happens to them. Otherwise, how much better are we? None." Daryl looked down at the ground. "I forgive her, Daryl. You should too." His gaze stayed on the floor. "I don't think I can do that. I'm sorry. I'd die without you. She tried to kill both of us." I nodded. I understood where he was coming from, even though I didn't agree with him, and I could live with it. After all, I was still alive because of him, and apparently he was still alive because I was.

Daryl:

Beth was awake and talking a lot quicker than I thought she would be. She was definitely a fighter. And I loved her. So much it hurt. "I'm just glad you're alive, Beth. I need you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

6 months later. . .

I was running. And running. And running. Screams came from a house in front of me. I kept running but I never got any closer to it. The screams were Beth. The got louder and louder and louder. I keps screaming back to them "BETH! . . . BETH! . . . BETH!" Suddenly the screams cut off. The scenery changed. I was outside the house. In back. I was standing in front of a grave. I looked around me for Beth but she was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly the ground started to shake and the dirt in the grave started to split and Beth crawled out. She was a walker. She lunged toward me and I didn't have it in me to put her down. She opened her mouth to bite me and everything was black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up sweating and yelling. Beth had rolled over toward me and was holding me. "What's wrong?" I couldn't even speak. I opened my mouth but nothing came out. Beth looked at me sadly. "I understand." And she held me closer. I didn't even try to stop myself from crying.

When I calmed down, Beth whispered in my ear. "You know we need to leave soon, and head back toward the prison. Right? We need to find the others." I nodded. "Tomorrow. But you have a limp. You won't make it that far." Beth shook her head. "I'll manage. At least I can walk. And it's not that bad of a limp. It's slight. And it won't last forever. So we leave tomorrow morning. You should try to go back to sleep. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere. . . ever."


	5. Chapter 5

Beth:

I woke up to Daryl crawling out of bed. He pulled on his jeans, button-down shirt, and vest before slinging his crossbow over his shoulder. He turned around and saw me awake. "Oh hey. Didn't know you were up." I smiled at him. "Yeah. I am." I giggled. "You ready to go?" He nodded. "Yeh. We can go as soon as you're ready." At that I stood and dressed in what I had with me. My jeans had a big, bloody hole in the hip and my shirt had blood spattered all over. "Carol really got me." I said under my breath. Daryl heard me and looked down. "Yeah. She did." When I was ready to go, Daryl handed me his knife. "Until we find ya somethin' to carry with ya." I took it and put it through my belt. "Okay. I guess we should go now."

We ate breakfast and said our goodbyes to Morgan. He looked down at the hole in my jeans, showing my dark, thick scar. "You're gonna need some new clothes. There's an old shopping mall down the way a bit. I don't think it's been looted much. There aren't any signs marking it and it's kinda back aways. Before the world went to shit it was on the verge of bankruptcy anyways. Not many customers. You could check there for some supplies." Daryl shook Morgan's hand firmly. "Thanks, man. For everything." Morgan nodded and looked at me. "You gonna be okay on that leg?" I hugged him and nodded, trying not to cry. "I'm sure I will. Thank you for saving me." He squeezed me tighter before letting me go. "You should be thanking your friend here. Carried you almost ten miles from that prison." I looked over at Daryl. I had no idea we were that far from the prison. I smiled at him and grabbed his hand. He squeezed my hand and we said our final goodbyes and left.

Daryl:

"I recken' we head for that shopping mall and see what we can find." Beth nodded. "Yeah. Maybe there'll be a car there." "Maybe. Morgan said it was back aways so be lookin'." We went about five miles without seeing anything. Another three and there it was. "I see it!" Beth was pumped about maybe findin' a car. I wasn't so sure there was such a good chance of that with there bein' so few customers.

We cleared the stores one by one, sittin' outside the front window of each one n' bangin' on the window to draw walkers out. There weren't many, just clerks n' maybe ten others. Surprisingly, there were actually a few cars in the lot. We picked out the smallest to save gas. I told Beth I'd hotwire it when we came back out.

"Where should be go first?" Beth looked around. "There's a sports store, a gas station, a coffee shop, a department store, and an auto shop." I looked down at her leg. Winter was comin' and we wouldn't last long in what we had on. "Better check that department store. And we can find parts for that car in the auto shop." Beth nodded and we walked toward the department store.

Beth:

I went straight for the Juniors' department when we got into the store. "Find what you can and meet me back at the front. See if you can find yourself a coat." I nodded. When I got back there, there was surprisingly a lot left there. I picked up a bra, a couple pairs of underwear, a t-shirt, and sweater, a pair of jeans, some socks, and found a black peacoat-style jacket in my size. I also grabbed a pair of combat boots. I changed right there into the t-shirt, jeans, boots, and undergarments, and left my old clothes behind. I snagged a couple stocking caps off a rack on my way back to the front. I figured Daryl might not think to grab a hat, and he'd probably need one soon. I got back to the front and Daryl had grabbed pretty much the same things I had, minus the bra (obviously) and the hat. I handed him one and he chuckled. He had gotten a leather jacket for himself. It was a nice one. He'd changed too, and was wearing his vest with a new button-down and a pair of work boots. We were set on clothes for a while.

We threw the extra stuff in the car and headed for the auto shop after Daryl checked out the car more thoroughly. He said we needed a new battery, otherwise the car was good to go. So we went in and got one. It was a pretty quick trip. When the battery was in, we hit the sports store next.

Daryl:

I knew exactly where we needed to go in the sports store. We needed a bag and some weapons. Hopefully the firearms hadn't been raided. It didn't seem like the rest of the stores had been.

Of course the only store in the entire damn mall that was popular was the sports store. All that was left in the weapons were a couple hunting knifes and some ammo. There were bolts though. Not many crossbow carriers I recken'. I grabbed the bolts and knives and found a big duffel bag and a baseball bat. Beth followed me out of the store and back to the car.

I found half a can of gas in the gas station and Beth found a few boxes of cereal in the coffee shop. We put our stuff in the car, I wired it, and we were off.


	6. Chapter 6

6 months later. . .

********************************************************************************************************

Beth:

We had been on the road for about an hour. Daryl's hand was on my leg, and my hand was on top of his. I wound my fingers around his. We had pretty much given up on looking for the others. It had been a year since we were attacked. Daryl and I hadn't found a place to sleep that lasted more than a week or two since our stay with Morgan a year ago.

As we drove on, we didn't see many houses, but we could see the buildings of a city ahead of us. "We'll pass the city and head for the mountains." Daryl's breaking the silence made me jump. "Sorry" he mumbled. I nodded. "You think it'll be safer up in the mountains?" He nodded. "Less people before the world went to shit. Should be less walkers now. And either way, walkers probably wouldn't make the incline up the mountain." I looked out my window. "Okay."

Daryl:

As we got closer to the city, I could feel Beth start to tense up. "It'll be okay." She looked at me. She knew as well as I did that cities usually meant herds, but we had one on our trail anyway so there wasn't any use in turning around. We had to go forward.

We drove on for another half hour or so. I'd kinda left my mind drift, and Beth was asleep. I slammed on the brakes. Beth 'bout flew outta her seat, whipping her head all around to see what was happening, eyes wide. We were right in the middle of the biggest herd I'd ever seen. "Shit! We gotta try to drive through 'em." Beth nodded. I floored it and we flew forward takin' walkers down by the dozen. Eventually, they started to get stuck under the wheels, and we stopped movin'. We were stuck. This was the end. I looked over at Beth. She knew we were done, because she looked at the floor and started to cry. "What do you wanna do, Beth?" She looked up at me with tear filled eyes. "I don't wanna be gutted. I wanno go." With that I saw the innocent, sad Beth from a few years ago, come back. "Me neither." I looked out the window. Thousands upon thousands of walkers had us surrounded. Too many to try to fight them off. I pulled out my gun.

Beth:

I watched Daryl get his gun out, then grabbed mine. Daryl leaned over and kissed me for a long time. I grabbed ahold of his free hand. I brought my gun to my temple, as Daryl did the same. He squeezed my hand and I counted.

"One."

"Two."

With tears in my eyes I took a deep breath.

"Three."


	7. Chapter 7

Beth:

"One."

"Two."

"Three." 

"Wait! Beth, stop!" I dropped the gun, jerking my head left to look at Daryl through tear-filled eyes. He had already dropped his gun also. I looked down, shaking my head.

"Why?"

"We can get out of this. We can't just give up this easily." My head shot back up as my despair and confusion changed to anger. 

"How do you expect us to do that? It's impossible! Have you looked out the window?! We're gonna die anyway, so why does it have to be by being ripped limb from limb by cannibalistic dead people!?" He looked at me, pitying me. He felt bad for me. He responded by gesturing for me to get down on the floor so I could no longer be seen. He then placed a finger to his lips, telling me to be quiet as he crouched to the floor below the steering wheel. 

"We're gonna try this. Stay down here until I tell ya' otherwise." I did as he said, thinking over the plan. How would this work? The walkers had already seen and heard us. Maybe they would lose interest? Or hear something else? I decided I would just have to wait and see. 

After a span of six hours that seemed like weeks, my legs had completely locked up and gone numb. Soon after I heard an engine come roaring by, leading the remaining walkers chasing after it. Our lucky break. We should have been long out of luck by now. Daryl began to rise, looked out the window, then looked over and motioned me up with a huge grin. "It worked. Most of 'em are gone, but the herd behind us is almost here, so we gotta go. . . now." He hopped into the driver's seat as I got up into my seat, rubbing my tingling legs. We lurched forward after struggling over the walkers we had already crushed beneath the tires, and sped off. The walkers had mostly gone to the sides, toward the woods, leaving the majority of the main road through Atlanta clear. We shot straight forward through the city and toward the mountains. Almost as if in unison, the mass of undead bodies swiveled around to swell back into the road behind us and follow out vehicle. We now had double the herd hot on our trail. I figited nervously in my seat as we drove. Daryl noticed and placed a hand on my leg. "We'll be alright." I did my best to nod without giving away how much I was shaking, even though I was pretty sure Daryl could feel it in my leg. As if reading my thoughts, he squeezed my leg, telling me he knew I was shaking like a leaf. I forced a smile and looked ahead, unwilling to face the undead behind us, chasing us, wanting us for their next meal. 

We traveled well into the night before even reaching the base of what I assumed to be Slaughter Mountain (ironic name, but we needed to be safe). We had been heading in that direction and according to the twenty-year-old map in the glove box, we should have been at the base and about to head up towards the summit. I looked to Daryl, trying to read his expression. He seemed to be contemplating something. I placed a hand on his arm. "What is it?" He put one foot on a boulder in front of him and looked up the mountain. it was getting dark and even I knew we couldn't stay at the bottom with the herd chasing us.

"We gotta go up. We'll get eaten in our sleep down here." He started walking again and I followed. The incline got steeper and steeper as we traveled upward and the air thinned, making it harder to breath until we adjusted to it. My legs ached and I could barely force the air into my lungs when we finally reached the large ledge that Daryl had pointed out from the foot of the mountain. He said it was high enough that the incline should be too steep for walkers to climb. I collapsed to the grounds, gasping and rolling over onto my back. My eyelids were heavy as I adjusted finally to the thin, frigid air. I was suddenly grateful for the wool-lined jacket I'd pulled from a rack on a run to an abandoned Wal-Mart. We'd opted to head for a smaller town, where not many people would have expected a supermarket like that to be. Luckily, we hit the jackpot. I snatched the jacket on the way out by the door.

Daryl:

"I don't wanna be gutted. I wanna go. Right now. With you beside me." I felt the air in the car get colder and everything' seemed darker. I was in despair. I didn't wanna die n' I knew she didn't either. I tried desperately to search my brain for somethin' to say to change her mind as she raised her gun to her temple. Instead I sat frozen, unable to form the words I needed. I found my own gun rising' to my head, causing me to start to panic. No. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. NO. NO! She looked at me with tears brimmed eyes and began to count. "One. Two. . .Three." The sound of the guns firing in unison deafenin' as Beth went limp in her seat. My gun had fired but I didn't die. Somethin' warm ran down the side of my face and poured into my lap. Blood. I put my hand to the source of the blood. My fingers sank into a large hole just behind my temple, and as they did, blood gushed out and splattered against the window, ricochetin' back into my face. Panic consumed me a I fumbled for my gun, desperate to end this, but my pistol was gone. I looked back over at Beth's lifeless body, Lyin' simply in the seat. I slammed my face into the steerin' wheel and opened my mouth to scream, but nothin' came out. I stayed that way until everythin faded into black.

I jolted upright in a cold sweat. I flew to my feet, stumblin' around in the dark, lookin' for Beth, expectin' to find her dead on the ground. When I couldn't find her, I panicked more, searchin' faster until I felt my foot leave the ground. I grunted and jumped back, gaspin' as small hands grabbed me from behind and pulled me backward.

"Daryl?..." I continued to thrash against the arms that had now wrapped around my waist. "Daryl! Calm down! It's me." I instantly stopped, hearin' her soft, sweet voice against my ear. I swung my arm behind me, findin' her waist and turnin' around to pull her into a hug.

"You're alive." I sighed a breath of relief as she looked up at me with worry in her eyes. She reached up and cupped her hand over my cheek. 

"Yeah. But you almost died just now. What happened?" I rested my chin on the top of her head as she spoke.

"You were dead, and I. . ." I trailed off. Thinkin' about it killed a little piece of me every time. She hugged me tighter and buried her face in my neck. 

"It's okay, I'm still here. But I wouldn't be if you'd have fallen." I grunted in reply, at a loss for words. She understood my different signals and relies almost as well as Merle had. I didn't need the words I couldn't find. She broke the silence once again. "We need to go back to sleep. We can worry about supplies and everything else tomorrow. We'll find something, and we'll be fine." I nodded and, with her in my arms the whole time, shuffled to the back of the ledge and sat down with my back against the mountain. I knew I wouldn't sleep so I sat there, holdin' Beth in my lap as she drifted back off to sleep in my arms, until mornin' light shone through the trees. I leaned my head down close to her ear as she slept and whispered.

"I love you, Beth Greene." She didn't stir, but even though I thougth she was sleepin', I heard her answer me softly.

"I love you too, Daryl." After that, she actually went back to sleep, with a smile on her lips as I leaned back down and planted a soft kiss on her forehead.


	8. Chapter 8

Beth:

I woke up in Daryl's arms, my head against his chest. I stayed still for a few minutes, taking in the smell of pine and lake water that had soaked into his clothing, before inhaling deeply through my nose and stretching out. "Hey. Sleep well?" I looked up at Daryl's smiling face, feeling a smile tug at the corners of my own mouth. I nodded and laid my head back down on his chest.

"Did you?" His chin brushed over the top of my head as he shook his.

"Oh. Why?" He looked down, putting his face up against mine. His breath was warm on my face as he hugged me tighter to him.

"Too busy thinkin' 'bout how I almost lost ya', then. . ." He trailed off, so I finished for him.

". . . And then I almost lost you." He ran his hand up and down my back as we talked.

"Yeah. Sorry 'bout that." I cupped my hand over his cheek.

"Don't be." He nodded, still looking troubled, before standing up with me in his arms and setting me down on my feet.

"We better get going. We got a lotta stuff to find." I nodded and followed him as he started up the steep incline to the top of the mountain, reaching back to grab my hand and help me up. When we got to the top we traveled into a small town on the map, where we found a couple stores on a plaza. I was shocked that the top of the mountain would have so much life. . . or what would have been life, had the world not literally died. Daryl didn't seem as surprised, though. He must have been to the mountains before. What was I thinking? Of course he'd been up here before, we couldn't have gone that far from where we had originally lived before the apocalypse.

As we approached the plaza, we decided to split up so we could work faster. Daryl placed a chaste kiss on my lips before heading toward the grocery store that took up an entire side of the square. As he walked away, I called after him. "Be careful!" A knot formed in my stomach as he got farther and farther away from me, as I got more and more worried I may never see him again, even though I was sure he'd be fine. He slowed to a stop, before turning halfway around to look at me with a warm, reassuring smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Always." And with that, he turned back and continued walking as I headed for the rest of the stores. Daryl had gone to the grocery store because food was what we needed most and he could carry more than I could. I went to the clothing store first, hugging myself as the chilly breeze put goosebumps on my skin. I knocked loudly on the front door, glancing over to the grocery store where Daryl was clearing walker after walker with ease as they stumbled through the front doors of the store at him. I turned back to my store, where only two walkers slammed their hands against the window, scratching and biting at the glass. I opened up the door and jumped back as both walkers dove for the opening, reaching for me and gnashing their rotting teeth as they came closer to me. I grabbed at my knife, sliding my hand along the blade as I ripped it out of my pocket, lashing out and stabbing the first walker in the head then taking out the second one the same way. I looked down at the palm of my hand as crimson blood poured through the long, thin line down the middle of my palm. I pulled my knife out of the second walkers head and used it to cut and tear a strip off of my shirt and wrap it around my hand to slow the bleeding. 

When I finished wrapping my hand I double checked for more walkers then adjusted my backpack and stepped inside. To my surprise, not a lot was missing from the store. Most of the racks were full so worked quickly, picking up a brown, deer skin jacket for myself, a pair of combat boots, a pair of hiking boots, and a black leather jacket for Daryl. I changed into mine and put Daryl's in the first pocket of my backpack, leaving the store and heading for the rest of them. I came back to the meeting spot with the clothing, a tent, two flashlights, two sleeping bags, and a large quilt. Daryl came back about ten minutes later than me carrying his bag, which was about half full. Apparently food was the first thing everyone thought of when the apocalypse started, so the grocery store wasn't as full as the stores I'd hit, but we got more than enough to last us a while. There were a few cars in the parking lot, left over from the people who hadn't made it out of the stores alive. We picked a small hybrid, which would be easier on gas. Daryl hotwired it while I loaded the supplies into the trunk and backseat. When it was running, we got in and headed back to our little ledge.


	9. Chapter 9

Daryl:

Beth shifted slightly in my lap as I stuck the needle into the palm of her hand for the fifth and final time. I was as gentle as I could be, but a cut like the one she had on her hand had ta' hurt like hell. She'd sliced right across her palm, the line endin' at the back of her hand, between her thumb and index finger in the web of her hand. Luckily, it wasn't too deep in most places other than the web, so five stitches took care of it. "All done. Just gotta wrap it." I fumbled for the roll of gauze in my pocket, shakin' from nerves and hurtin' her, but she knew it had ta' be done. "Ya might not get full feeling' back in that. 'M pretty sure ya cut right through a tendon." She sighed and nodded, leanin' back against me and rest in her head on my shoulder. Walkers growled at us from far off as we sat on our ledge, quietly lookin' out. Before long she sighed as she stood up from my lap. I looked at her questioningly but she didn't answer, just walked over to the tent, disappeared inside, and reappeared a few seconds later with her knife. She wiped it off on the hem of her shirt and came back over, shovin' her good hand toward me. I took it and she pulled me up. 

"They're getting loud. We should take care of them before there are too many." I nodded and followed her up the steep incline from out ledge to the next level, one hand on her lower back for support. We weren't all that far up the mountain, but we were far enough that walkers could tell we were there and some of 'em would stand at the base, growlin' at us. We'd climb down to clear 'em out whenever they got to be in a group of ten or more. At this point there were about twenty at the base of the small mountain, waitin' for us. They lurched forward all at once when they saw/smelled us, lettin' louder, harsher growls escape from their rottin' throats. I started down the slope, grabbin' each small tree as I made my way slowly to the large boulder about half way down that I used as my vantage point. I'd found that a pellet gun worked to kill walkers if I placed the shot just right, so it'd hit 'em square in the eye or in an open area of their head if they were old and decayed enough. Plus it was quiet, so we could take out more, while drawin' in less. I'd found a couple in a house we'd raided on our way to the ledge, plannin' to test 'em out, and when I finally did test 'em, they worked like a charm. Another perk, the pellets came in tins of 250, and they were easy to find, thanks to the probability that not many people had thought of 'em as useful in a goddamn apocalypse. I settled in on the rock and took aim, puttin' down ten walkers easily as Beth took care of most of the others. I glanced up at Beth as she flashed me a thumbs-up. She'd been workin' on her shot and had become deadly accurate with most any type 'a gun. I smiled at her and stuffed my can of pellets back in my pocket before slingin' the gun over my back and pushin' off the rock to stand, but when I pushed down, the boulder shuddered and budged, makin' me freeze in place as I cursed.

"Daryl? What's wrong?" I stayed unmovin' as I answered her. 

"The rock's movin' it's gonna fall." Just as I said it, the rock budged again and gave away, plummetin' to the base of the mountain and landin' on the pile of bodies we'd just left. I jumped sideways, catchin' a small tree, which broke under my weight and dropped me. I landed hard at the bottom of the 25 foot drop, after crashin' into rocks and trees on my way down. My heart pounded in my ears, drownin' out Beth's panicked, ragged breathin' as she skidded down the slope in a zigzag while I tried to asses the damage. 

My sides hurt like hell and my head pounded. I'd undoubtedly broken more than a few ribs and I was seein' stars. I'd probably have been dead if it weren't for the thick pile of walkers to break my fall. I could hear bones cruchin' as Beth made her way across the pile of bodies to me. She made it about half way over before lettin' out a startled whimper and topplin' over backwards as a hand shot out of the heap of mangled arms and legs, grabbin' her ankle. 

Beth: 

Bodies shifted underneath me as I fell, allowing me to sink into the heap of them, closer to the lone (I hoped) living walker, that continued to pull at my leg and creep closer and closer to taking a chunk from my foot. Over the low growl I could hear Daryl grunting weakly as he tried to get to me. I managed to free the leg that the walker didn't have, and kick the walker in the face, knocking it from my other leg and giving me enough time to pull my knife and put the walker down. I wasted no time in fighting my way back to the top of the pile as I yelled up to Daryl. "I'm okay! Don't move!" I reached the top and found him still trying to crawl to me. "Daryl, stop! You need to keep still until I can see how bad you're hurt, and it's obviously pretty bad." He saw me and calmed down, staying still as I started to check him over to find all of his injuries. 

I started with his feet and legs, which seemed relatively okay, save for a few scratches. I moved to his torso next, and as I lifted his shirt he let out a pained cry and tensed up. I placed my hand on his forehead and brushed the hair out of his face, which was now covered in small beads of sweat. "I'm sorry." I looked back down to his chest and sides, where massive bruises were already forming, and covered the majority of the right side of his ribcage and at least the bottom quarter of the left side. "Oh, Daryl. . . " He lifted his head barely and tried to crack a joke as I struggled to keep the tears from spilling over. His voice was hardly a whisper as he spoke. 

"That bad, huh?" I nodded and moved onto his head, eliciting yet another pained whimper as I looked at the back, which was bleeding, but not much. One of his eyes was beginning to swell, but the brunt of the injury was in his broken ribs, which blackened more by the minute. The next issue was how to move him back to camp. I turned my back to him and let the tears, that had been lying in wait since he fell, go. My shoulders shook as I sobbed as quietly as I could.

"What are we gonna do?" My words were broken as I said them between sobs, my shoulders shaking. Daryl made a sickly, painful grunting sound behind me, causing me to whirl around only to find him standing, bent over unnaturally, his knees shaking unsteadily. I jumped up, tripping over limbs to support him by carefully wrapping an arm around his waist and letting him rest his over my shoulder. I was careful not to press up against him too much as we made the slow journey back to the ledge. 

When we finally made it, I helped him ease to the ground on top of his sleeping bag. He grunted in pain and relief as he relaxed into the bag. He drifted to sleep quickly, but it was fitful. He woke up several times each hour, moaning painfully and I swore I could hear my heart break every time. I sat up many times also during the night (though I wasn't sleeping) to check on him, and found him running what felt like a relatively high fever. Crap. I thought as I stood, searching around camp for anything to help him.


	10. Chapter 10

Beth:

I searched frantically, digging furiously through everything in our tiny camp, finding nothing but a little water and food. I dropped to the ground and pulled my knees to my chest, a flood of tears wetting my face as I sobbed silently. I didn't want to be alone out here; I couldn't lose him. I thought back to my dad and Maggie, and the rest of the group as I rested my head on my knees. I couldn't help but let a tiny smile come to my face as an image of my father teaching Rick to farm while I watched, holding a sleeping Judith in my arms. Wait. . . farming? Herbs? HERBS! The Rosemary! 

I shot up out of my position and began digging more furiously through my bag than before as I remembered the rosemary I'd found on the edge of an overrun garden outside of Atlanta. I knew I'd be able to use it for something, but I'd never imagined an event like this. As a child, daddy had gone through a book of plants and herbs with Maggie and I, just for fun. I remembered him telling me that certain herbs, like rosemary, had medicinal properties: and rosemary could be used as an antipyretic. I pulled the bundle of needle-like plant out of my bag and setting it beside me on the ledge before grabbing a medium-sized rock, one of our water bottles, a tea bag, a pot, and a lighter. 

I rounded up some sticks and laid them in a pile before lighting them and placing a metal grate on top. I filled the pot with water and added it to the grate, then turning back to the rosemary and the rock, using the stone to crush the herbs into a powdery paste (no time to let the plant dry). As the water heated up, I added the tea bag and rosemary and let the mixture come to a rolling boil for a few minutes. I put the fire out and removed the pot from the heat, using my sweater sleeves to protect my hands as I set the pot down to cool. It took about ten minutes, and a little added cool water from the bottle, for the tea to cool to a temperature suitable for drinking. 

I grabbed the now cool pot and scooted close to Daryl, bringing the edge of the container to his lips and pouring a tiny amount of the liquid into his mouth. He began to wake up and immediately started to panic until he heard me whispering. 

"Shhhh. . . shhhhh. Daryl, it's okay. I'm here. I'm here." I held the pot up where he could see it.. "Drink. It should help the fever." He nodded weakly and let me hold the tea to his lips as he took small sips until it was gone. I sat with his head in my lap as he finished the tea and grunted while he relaxed into a slightly calmer sleep. Before long, he stopped sweating and his skin felt a little cooler. 

I let out a relieved sigh and relaxed a little, brushing the soaked strands of hair from his forehead and pressing mine to it. I moved my head and kissed his nose, stroking his forehead and across the top of his head through his hair. I hoped he was more comfortable than before, at least as far as the fever went. His pain level would be pretty high for quite a while. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daryl:

I opened my eye slowly against the bright sunlight: the other had swollen shut. My sides and head throbbed, but I didn't feel like I was on fire anymore, so I decided it was a plus. My head rested on Beth's lap, and she was layin' against the side of the mountain, asleep. It had no doubt been a long night for her, though I didn't remember anythin', and I wasn't gonna wake her to ask. 

I turned my head and saw what looked almost like a workstation laid out next to me. A pile of sticks smoked under a grate and an empty pot sat by my head, and next to what was left of the fire was a smear of a bright green paste and a rock covered in the same. Beth had been up to somethin'. Probably to lower my fever. I turned my head back to straight and found Beth looking down at me silently, tears in her eyes. "Thank God." She put a hand on my cheek gently as one of those tears fell onto my face. I forced a painful smile and lifted my arm to wipe her face with my thumb. She grinned back and cried harder, sounds erupted from her: half laughs, half sobs. She took my face in both hands. "I love you. . . I love you. . . I love you. . . " She kept sayin' it, like I didn't already know. 

"I love you too." The phrase came out slowly, my throat dry and my voice raspy. All of the pain faded into the back of my mind as my weak smile became a slightly wider grin. "Hey. Can ya help me sit up?" She got a worried look on her face but nodded hesitently, slidin' an arm underneath my back and restin' another genltly on my chest. I choked back a pained gasp at her touch and she recoiled a little, apologizing. "Don't worry.I'll live." I teased her quietly as I grunted and sat up, with her help. "That's better." She smiled and turned, starting to clean up her little workstation while I watched. "What was that for?" She continued to work without turnin' around as she answered.

"You had a fever. A high one. So crushed up that rosemary I found and added it to some tea to help lower your temperature. I think it worked." I nodded. 

"Yeah. I think so too. Thanks." She stopped to look back at me over her shoulder and smile.


	11. Chapter 11

Daryl was healing well from the infection, but his recovery from the fall would be a different story. In two days, instead of beginning to lighten and ease in pain, Daryl's bruises had all darkened considerably, and he wouldn't admit to it, but I could tell he was in more pain than the day before. Regardless, I was thrilled that his fever was gone and he could speak a little more. I had been watching his temp like a hawk since I first found it, but I hadn't expected him to be talking quite so soon. Until he did.

I had nodded off to sleep and as I started to sense the first aspects of a dream coming on, a weakened, raspy, barely audible whisper pulled me back. I shouldn't have heard it, but my senses were heightened from days of watching and waiting and monitoring him; sensitive to his every last movement. "So when're we movin' out for another run?" I sprang off my ass and onto my knees by his head to answer as I ever so gently ran a hand across his forehead.

"As soon as you heal up the rest of the way. You're hurt bad, Daryl. You need more time." In a delayed reaction of sorts he contorted his face into his signature 'not buyin' it' face.

"We'll run out of supplies. . ."

"We got a lot of food last time, remember? We'll be alright for a while. I'm going for water in a few minutes though." He winced and raised his arm to grasp my wrist as I turned to stand.

"Hmh. . .nah." Without fully finishing his phrase, Daryl groaned and began a futile attempt at pushing himself into a sitting position. I carefully stopped him in response, having already figured out his motive.

"I'm not going far, Daryl. I'll be okay. I promise. Be back soon, alright?" Barely shaking his head once more to no avail, he seemed to have depleted all of his energy and had blacked out again. So I left our tiny little ledge in search of somewhere to get clean water, making sure to mark my path as to find my way back to Daryl. An ongoing heatwave appeared to have drained the area nearby off any and all water, and I found myself wandering further and further from the campsite, into an area we'd yet to explore.

As I wandered, I somehow found my way into a new collection of buildings, very few large ones, surrounding a huge, grey, stone building that boasted only a rusted, dirtied sign above the entrance, the words on which I couldn't yet make out. As I got closer, however, the thin layer of dust over the lettering slowly became more translucent, which made the name of the building legible to me. 'GRADY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL e. 1977'. Judging by the condition of the building, I figured it must have been abandoned at the very beginning, probably left untouched ever since. I thought about Daryl as I approached the door; thought about the prospect of finding painkillers or anything that could be put to use to ease his pain more quickly. I took a long breath and readied my knife, stepping closer to the door and hitting the grey steel hard with the side of my fist three times, as Daryl had taught me. But before I could hit the door the third time, a hand clapped down over my mouth and another wrapped around my shoulders to yank me away from the door and into a shadow around the corner. I sucked in a breath and swung my knife blindly, apparently cutting something when I heard a pained gasp and felt one of the hands move from my shoulders to my dominant right arm, blocking me from any further opportunities to attack my captor.

I was whirled around to face a tall, thin man who appeared to be around my age, a fresh gash stretched diagonally across his forehead. "Are you crazy?!" The man's voice was a harsh whisper as he continued. "They'll hear y. . ." Heavy footfall quickly gave the building life, accompanied by a lot of shouting. "Oh, God! We gotta run! Come on!" The stranger grabbed onto my wrist and dragged me forward, sprinting for the chain-link fence at the end of the dilapidated parking lot.

I questioned furiously as we ran, my voice nearly matching his earlier whispered tone. "Who?" He never looked back as he hastily responded, not skipping a beat.

"No time to explain. I'll tell you everything when we find a safer place." He couldn't see it, but I nodded quickly and continued running behind him until we reached the fence and pulled it back to slide through.

"I know where we can go! Follow me!" With that I switched our hands so that I was dragging him and ran ahead as bullets began to rain down on us. We dodged and weaved for a long time, finally escaping with minimal injury. When we were safely out of range of the guns we slowed to a walk, neither of us saying anything for several minutes for a lack of oxygen in our lungs. After a little while, we were almost back to the ledge, and I was the first of the two of us to regain the ability to use my voice. I'd long ago decided not to take this man all the way back to the ledge where Daryl was until I at dead least knew a little bit about him, a name even. I stopped and turned to face him. "Okay. . . so. . . we're safe here. I'd like some. .answers now, please."


End file.
